The present invention concerns removing carbonyl sulfied (COS) from liquid hydrocarbon streams and, particularly, from propane and other similar liquefied petroleum gas streams (LPG).
In oil and gas production operations carbonyl sulfide sometimes occurs in propane and other related liquefied petroleum gas products. If the carbonyl sulfide comes in contact with water in tank cars, pipelines, storage caverns etc. used to transport or store the liquified gas products it may convert to hydrogen sulfide (H.sub.2 S) in the presence of a heavy metal catalyst such as iron or aluminum. If more than one PPM.sub.v (parts per million by volume) of hydrogen sulfide is produced from the resulting reaction the liquefied gas products will not meet the Gas Producers Association (GPA) copper strip corrosion test specification. Carbonyl sulfide is a stable unreactive compound that is very difficult to reduce to concentration levels below one PPM.sub.v using conventional amine and molecular sieve processes. The present invention is designed to reduce the carbonyl sulfide content of a liquefied petroleum gas product to less than one PPM.sub.v expediently, economically, and with negligible energy consumption.